Vaikų linija is Recruiting New Volunteers: Embracing Digitalization and Artificial Intelligence

At Vaikų Linija, volunteers are the people who answer hundreds of calls and online messages from children every day. Talking to children, volunteers collectively spend nearly 50 hours daily. It might seem impossible to fit that much into a day, but several phone and chat lines operate simultaneously, so children who reach out hear not a busy signal, but: “Vaikų Linija, how can I help you?”

As in previous years, Vaikų Linija is launching its autumn recruitment campaign for new volunteers to ensure emotional support for children remains continuous and high-quality. Anyone, regardless of their education or profession, can apply. The key requirements are motivation and enough free time. Skills in emotional support and counseling are developed during 4–5 months of preparatory training.

This year's innovation is a simplified and streamlined recruitment system, including an automated interview process. According to Vaikų Linija Emotional Support Coordinator, Gerda Laumytė, the goal is to ensure a smooth process for candidates and convenience and efficiency for the recruitment team. “When recruiting emotional support volunteers, we’re talking about hundreds of applicants and dozens of selection processes run by volunteer trainers and administrative staff from various cities, both in person and online. So, many different processes happen in parallel. To optimize resources, we partnered with others to centralize volunteer placement and applicant management on a single platform. We also offer candidates the opportunity to complete an automated interview through a special platform, at their convenience and from anywhere.” says Laumytė.

She notes that since implementing the new tools, manual work has significantly decreased. For example, there’s no need to search for duplicate applications or manually color-code changes in spreadsheets. It’s also easier to track each candidate’s stage in the process. All coordinators now manage the process and information on a single platform - no more juggling multiple tools and countless documents.

Collaboration Between Business and Non-Governmental Sectors

This year, Vaikų Linija is using Recrur, a recruitment software platform, for volunteer selection. Its founder and CEO, Marita Alaväli, says that supporting NGOs like Vaikų Linija is important because they believe in the organization’s mission to listen and help children. “By providing our recruitment software, we aim to help Vaikų Linija find and select dedicated volunteers, allowing them to focus on what really matters—supporting children in need. Digitalizing the volunteer recruitment process and using automated systems like email communication, progress tracking, and GDPR compliance checks helps save time and reduce errors.” says Alaväli.

Will Robots Replace Humans in Recruitment?

With the help of an automated interview platform ,,TeamFill'' developed by AIDA Recruitment, Vaikų Linija candidates can complete their interviews anytime, anywhere. The platform uses artificial intelligence (AI) and is designed to be convenient for applicants while giving organizers fast and detailed candidate assessments.

Vaikų Linija values collaboration, openness, and equality. Building and maintaining respectful, non-judgmental communication is essential for anyone looking to become a volunteer. Conversations with children at Vaikų Linija are held without moralizing - each child is accepted as they are, and their thoughts and feelings are never dismissed.

According to AIDA Recruitment founder and Co - founder of TeamFill Antanas Giraitis, AI does not replace human connection but supports and enhances the recruitment process. “AI helps recruitment specialists reduce repetitive tasks like asking the same questions, evaluating answers, summarizing meetings, and more. This lets humans spend more time improving recruitment quality and focusing on higher-value tasks.” says Giraitis.

Candidates can choose between two methods for their interview: an automated interview at their convenience, or joining a remote group session at a scheduled time. According to Laumytė, both options are equally popular: “Roughly the same number of candidates choose the automated interviews and the group sessions. We see no drop in quality with the automated format - many people feel more comfortable in front of a screen or camera and are more open and willing to share during these sessions.”

Giraitis adds that most interviews, meetings, consultations, and lectures are now held remotely, and this is an irreversible trend. The main task of the initial interview, he emphasizes, is simply to gather basic information about the candidate.

Anyone interested in making a meaningful contribution is invited to fill out the registration form on the Vaikų Linija website.

Original source: https://www.vaikulinija.lt/savanoryste/vaiku-linija-renka-naujus-savanorius-pasitelkia-skaitmenizavima-di/